the road | the food | a new direction

Month: November 2014 (Page 2 of 3)

4 Aces Diner, West Lebanon NH

REVIEW

The 4 Aces is an original Worcester Lunch Car, #837 to be precise, but you won’t really know that until you step inside, because the red clapboard house built over and around the lunch car almost completely obscures it. Once inside, you’ll be comforted by the classic sight of a 1950s diner, with original tile floor, if such sights comfort you, as they do us. You can step beyond the confines of the original diner to other dining rooms but why would you ever want to do that? Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. November 19th, 2014

A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting

Norma’s Cafe Serving Free Thanksgiving Dinner

Grand Central Holiday Fair

Moody’s Diner of Maine Loses Religious Discrimination Ruling

Oklahoma Joe’s Now Officially Joe’s Kansas City

Continue reading

Duffeyroll Cafe, Denver CO

REVIEW

We’re always on the lookout for cinnamon rolls, and The Duffeyroll Cafe in Denver makes a particularly good one. Duffeyrolls have only a passing resemblance to goop-filled and icing-laden modern mega-rolls. A Duffeyroll cinnamon roll is light-textured, almost like a croissant. It’s a little crisp on the outside, and veined with just enough, but not too much, cinnamon and sugar. Continue reading

Cloudland Farm, North Pomfret VT

REVIEW

Here’s our idea of a perfect Vermont evening: we first drive to Lebanon, New Hampshire, pick up a growler or two of Dooryard Cider from Farnum Hill Ciders, then drive north of Woodstock, towards Pomfret, on winding dirt roads through the forest until we reach Cloudland Farm. We arrive earlier than our reservation so, on a pleasant summer evening, we sit in rockers on the porch as the kind folks at Cloudland bring us glasses. Continue reading

Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix AZ

REVIEW

Many have claimed that Pizzeria Bianco serves the best pizza in the land. As it’s also been one of the most difficult restaurants in which to secure a table, for years we’d been unable to see for ourselves what all the commotion is about. Things have changed. Hours have been expanded to cover midday, and Chris Bianco opened a second restaurant in Phoenix, and a third in Tucson, so that it is now possible to join in the fun without enduring an hours-long wait in the Arizona desert sun. Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. November 16th, 2014

A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting

David’s Country Kitchen in NYC?

How to Get By at a BBQ Chain

Top 101 American Breakfasts, Says Playboy

Tony Luke’s Watch

Continue reading

Farnum Hill Ciders, Lebanon NH

REVIEW

Cider is experiencing a renaissance in the U.S. By cider, we’re referring to hard cider, fermented apple juice, not the fresh-pressed sweet brown juice sold in plastic jugs in the fall (which we also love, particularly if it’s that ever-more-rare unpasteurized stuff). Hard cider’s golden age in America was colonial times, when it was easily made at home, on the farm. Interest died out long ago, and only very recently has America’s interest in hard cider been piqued. Now it seems as if every major brewery has a bottled cider offering. They tend to be sweet and simple, with flavors that lean more towards Jolly Ranchers than real apples. Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. November 15th, 2014

A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting

A Visit to Duarte’s Tavern, An American Classic

Michael Bauer of Inside Scoop SF (and food editor for the San Francisco Chronicle) drives down to Pescadero for a visit to Duarte’s Tavern, founded in 1894. He loves it all, from the slanted floors in the old dining room to the cioppino to the olallieberry pie (olallieberries are a locally popular hybrid of blackberries and raspberries). The menu features artichokes from Duarte’s garden, local oysters, Dungeness crab… in fact, depending on the season, Duarte’s offers locally caught halibut, snapper, petrale sole, and sand dabs. There’s even an abalone sandwich! Continue reading

Helen’s Casa Alde, Buda TX

REVIEW

Migas, a savory amalgam of eggs scrambled with torn bits of corn tortillas and perhaps some combination of chiles, onions, tomatoes, cheese, and/or meat, is the breakfast dish of Austin. Its fame is justified, and no visitor to Austin should neglect it, but even more popular, if less glamorous, is the breakfast taco. Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. November 14th, 2014

A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting

Viva La Local in Tucson This Sunday

Viva La Local is returning this Sunday to Rillito Raceway Park in Tucson, Arizona. The food festival debuted in spring 2014 and was such a big hit that organizers hope to make it a twice-yearly event. There will be over 80 farmers market vendors in attendance, 25 local restaurants, and several area wineries and breweries, along with music by Tucson bands. They are offering bike valet service and will store your farmers market purchases in a refrigerated truck (be sure to tell them not to refrigerate your tomatoes)  while you enjoy the festival! Proceeds go to help support the Heirloom Farmers Market. Continue reading

Checking In at: Capuano Ristorante, West Windsor NJ

Capuano Ristorante falls into one of two major categories of central New Jersey pizzeria Italian restaurants: the food is OK (the other category: the food is terrible). That’s about the best you can hope for at these restaurants, which are sprinkled by the dozens all over the region. You’ll never hit one where the food is better than OK, but sometimes OK is good enough. (Keep in mind we’re not talking here about those rare, and spectacular, pizza masters like De Lorenzo Tomato Pies in Robbinsville.) Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. November 13th, 2014

A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting

Behind the Scenes at VT’s Simon Pearce Restaurant

Brian Gazda became the Executive Chef at the restaurant at Simon Pearce Glass in Quechee, Vermont in June 2013. The local newspaper Valley News spends time with Chef Gazda as he works with the restaurant’s staff to prepare for a day’s service. Continue reading

Allentown Fairgrounds Farmers Market, Allentown PA

REVIEW

We tend to think of farmers markets as a source for locally grown tomatoes and corn, sweet and pristine berries picked that morning, and root vegetables still caked with moist soil. So a farmers market in Pennsylvania steel and coal country, in December, would turn up little of interest, right? Not so! Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. November 12th, 2014

A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting

Smoked Turkey for Thanksgiving

If you plan to be in Memphis for Thanksgiving you might want to leave the turkey to one of the local barbecue shops. Many of them are offering smoked turkeys for Thanksgiving pickup. Check this story in the Memphis Commercial Appeal that runs down the Thanksgiving offerings at area restaurants. It’s not all barbecue but those are the ones that interest us the most. The Bar-B-Q Shop is offering 12- to 14-pounders for $45.95. 12- to 14-pounders at Central BBQ are running for $39.99. Germantown Commissary‘s smoked turkeys will cost you $41.95 up to $69.95, depending on the size. Continue reading

White Cottage Snack Bar, Woodstock VT

REVIEW

The remnants of Hurricane Irene passed through Vermont, along the Connecticut River valley, on August 28th, 2011. The storm dumped massive amounts of rain on the region, swelling creeks and streams to powerful torrents which washed away bridges and businesses that were unlucky enough to lie in their paths. One such business was the White Cottage Snack Bar, a Woodstock summer tradition since 1957. We’d seen pictures of the damage to the White Cottage and, five weeks after Irene, we had a first-hand look at the devastation. It was clear to us that the White Cottage’s days were over forever. What do we know? It was back in business for summer 2012! Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. November 11th, 2014

A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting

World Famous St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail Eating Championship

St. Elmo Steak House, an Indianapolis landmark since 1902, is famed for their jumbo shrimp cocktail with explosive cocktail sauce. We’ve had it and, yes, it’s everything they say it is. But nine pounds of it in eight minutes? That’s what Joey Chestnut did last year to set a world record and win the World Famous St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail Eating Championship. This year’s event takes place on December 6th, and Joey Chestnut will be on hand to defend his title. Read the details here. Continue reading

Bijou Cafe, Portland OR

REVIEW

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and we suspect “they” are from Portland. Portland is a breakfast hound’s paradise, filled with restaurants that open in the early AM, and close after lunch. One of our favorites is a high-energy, stylish but casual place called the Bijou Cafe. Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. November 10th, 2014

A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting

New Braunfels Smokehouse and the Wurstfest

One of our favorite all-time festivals is going on right now. The Wurstfest, in New Braunfels, Texas, is a German/Texan celebration of beer, sausage, and music. The eating, for carnivores, is spectacular, much of it supplied by the New Braunfels Smokehouse, which produces those sausage kabobs you see pictured at the top of this post. In all, the NB Smokehouse expects to sell over 40,000 pounds of sausage at the Wurstfest. Read more about the New Braunfels Smokehouse and the Wurstfest in The Herald-Zeithung. The festival continues through Sunday the 16th. Continue reading

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